With the state of the game becoming what it is, and busted cards getting introduced to modern with every set, forcing pseudo-rotations, I'm beginning more and more to enjoy theorycrafting more than actually playing. Doesn't cost me anything to theorycraft, and I still get enjoyment out of building something and playing a few solitaire games to see how it plays out.
Unfortunately quarantine isn't ending anytime soon and my collection is paper only, so I won't be playing any magic for quite a while. When I finally get back into the swing of things there will be a big new pool of cards for me to tinker with.
I think in the Stompy version Winding Way is better than Seek the Wild because you can get ALL of the given cards, and since there's so much redundancy there's not as much to lose by dumping them into the grave. In the ramp version its more iffy because you really don't want to dump a Nykthos, Planeswalker, or Craterhoof (Unless you're running a bunch of Eternal Witness). But I like Fierce Empath in the ramp version so I can fetch Primeval or Craterhoof instead of relying on the top 4 of the deck.
Genesis Hydra for 10, get both creatures and Dome the opponent for 10 Double the damage of a Walking Ballista.
I tried Warstorm Surge back in the day (I thought I was so smart with the whole timing thing of Surge entering te battlefield BEFORE G. Hydra)...but this is WAY better.
Between this and Fierce Empath...I'll be playing my creature deck more than my Walker Deck...never thought I'd see the day!
I've often looked at including more red in the deck, for stuff like this or Inferno Titan. At what point do we just merge with Ponza and have Gruul Devotion without the land destruction? It seems fun, and Ponza's on the rise atm. I should probably look at joining a Ponza discord, though I'm not a fan of Land destruction.
I still haven't seen a deck with Vivien, Monster's Advocate which I feel is a very strong Walker. With Courser and fetchlands you can get some insane value from her passive.
I like the new Vivien, but at 5 mana I think she comes out too late and does too little. I tend to play a faster aggro-oriented version of devotion, and at that stage of the game I want to be closing the game out instead of grinding advantage. Against a jund-heavy meta, she'd be great.
Sorry Kireek1, I haven't been paying attention to this forum for a bit. Discord server can be found at https://discord.gg/CVQBJBk but we've been very quiet lately. Feel free to get a discussion going in there.
Hey arrogantAxolotl, excellent write-up on the new stuff. While I'm not a fan of polymorph style decks, Kinnan definitely piques my interest. With your lines of play in mind, I think I'll begin brewing up something with him.
I came to also say that I like the Fiend Artisan, but now that you guys bring up the similarity to Fauna Shaman, I'm not sure it's much better. I haven't played much magic lately either b/c my LGS has closed, so I'm only half-paying attention to spoiler season. Hard to get excited far cards I can't play with. It's really killed my desire to brew new stuff.
As for new Vivien, I like her abilities, but at 5 mana it's a tough sell for me.
I'm not sure how hard the lattice ban hits the Karn devotion lists, as it was a pretty solid lock and we could get it out as fast as any deck in modern. I'm hoping i'll get back into my regular Thursday night modern tourneys at the LGS to try out some new Devotion things.
On the other hand, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove really tempts me to put Titanshift back together again.
2020 seems to be starting off in a good way for Modern.
If you tap a permanent for mana, it produces three times as much of that mana instead.
Not sure if this is what we want to be doing by the time we can produce 7 mana, but good lord this will set up some stupid big plays. "I tap Nykythos for....30?"
Hello TheThominator, welcome to the discussion. Do you mind linking your Leyline build you've been using. I know several folks tested the Leyline version early on, but ultimately found that relying on Leyline has not led to consistency. OuaT probably helps that out a lot. I haven't looked at leyline builds recently, so I'm interested in seeing what new evolutions they've engineered. Also, your comment about Nissa re-targeting the same land to increase counters won't work because you have to target a non-creature land.
Too slow for maindeck, but I think Klothys is an OK sideboard card for the graveyard removal and for the damage in grindy matchups. I think the mana ability is a nice option early game, but will be irrelevant once the game goes long. Like you said, "decent".
I've often looked at including more red in the deck, for stuff like this or Inferno Titan. At what point do we just merge with Ponza and have Gruul Devotion without the land destruction? It seems fun, and Ponza's on the rise atm. I should probably look at joining a Ponza discord, though I'm not a fan of Land destruction.
I like the new Vivien, but at 5 mana I think she comes out too late and does too little. I tend to play a faster aggro-oriented version of devotion, and at that stage of the game I want to be closing the game out instead of grinding advantage. Against a jund-heavy meta, she'd be great.
A doubling season deck sounds really greedy...but I really want to build this now.
Also agree that new Garruk is weak.
I like the implications this has for us, and yes, I may need to pick up a woodland bellower now.
As for new Vivien, I like her abilities, but at 5 mana it's a tough sell for me.
I'm not sure how hard the lattice ban hits the Karn devotion lists, as it was a pretty solid lock and we could get it out as fast as any deck in modern. I'm hoping i'll get back into my regular Thursday night modern tourneys at the LGS to try out some new Devotion things.
On the other hand, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove really tempts me to put Titanshift back together again.
2020 seems to be starting off in a good way for Modern.
4GGG
Enchantment Creature - Elemental
Trample
If you tap a permanent for mana, it produces three times as much of that mana instead.
Not sure if this is what we want to be doing by the time we can produce 7 mana, but good lord this will set up some stupid big plays. "I tap Nykythos for....30?"
Gh0st shared his list in Discord https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=23820&d=365609&f=MO using Karn and Vivien to wish for answers/win-cons early.
I had a Leyline/Planeswalker build I was working on about a couple months ago. Time to dust it off and tune it up.